THE FATE OF THE MAGIC UMBRELLA
CHAPTER 27.
Next morning the search for the Magic Umbrella began in earnest. Withmany to hunt for it and the liberty of the whole palace to aid them,every inch of the great building was carefully examined. But no trace ofthe umbrella could be found. Cap'n Bill and Button-Bright went down tothe cabin of the former Boolooroo and tried to find out what he had donewith the umbrella, but the old Boolooroo said:
"I had it brought from the Treasure Chamber and tried to make it work,but there was no magic about the thing. So I threw it away. I haven'tany idea what became of it."
The six former Princesses were sitting upon a rude bench, looking quitebedraggled and untidy. Said Indigo:
"If you will make Ghip-Ghisizzle marry me, I'll find your old umbrella."
"Where is it?" asked Button-Bright, eagerly.
"Make Ghip-Ghisizzle marry me, and I'll tell you," repeated Indigo. "ButI won't say another word about it until after I am married."
So they went back to the palace and proposed to the new Boolooroo tomarry Indigo, so they could get their Magic Umbrella. But Ghip-Ghisizzlepositively refused.
"I'd like to help you," said he, "but nothing will ever induce me tomarry one of those snubnoses."
"They're very pretty--for Blueskins," said Trot.
"But when you marry a girl, you marry the inside as well as theoutside," declared Ghip-Ghisizzle, "and inside these Princesses thereare wicked hearts and evil thoughts. I'd rather be patched than marrythe best of them."
"Which _is_ the best?" asked Button-Bright.
"I don't know, I'm sure," was the reply. "Judging from their actions inthe past, there is no best."
Rosalie the Witch now went to the cabin and put Indigo into a deepsleep, by means of a powerful charm. Then, while the Princess slept, theWitch made her tell all she knew, which wasn't a great deal, to be sure;but it was soon discovered that Indigo had been deceiving them and knewnothing at all about the umbrella. She had hoped to marry Ghip-Ghisizzleand become Queen, after which she could afford to laugh at theirreproaches. So the Witch woke her up and went back to the palace to tellTrot of her failure.
The girl and Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill were all rather discouragedby this time, for they had searched high and low and had not found atrace of the all-important umbrella. That night none of them slept much,for they all lay awake wondering how they could ever return to the Earthand to their homes.
In the morning of the third day after Trot's conquest of the Blues thelittle girl conceived another idea. She called all the servants of thepalace to her and questioned them closely. But not one could rememberhaving seen anything that looked like an umbrella.
"Are all the servants of the old Boolooroo here?" inquired Cap'n Bill,who was sorry to see Trot looking so sad and downcast.
"All but one," was the reply. "Tiggle used to be a servant, but heescaped and ran away."
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Trot; "Tiggle is in hiding, somewhere. Perhaps hedon't know there's been a revolution and a new Boolooroo rules thecountry. If he did, there's no need for him to hide any longer, for heis now in no danger."
She now dispatched messengers all through the City and the surroundingcountry, who cried aloud for Tiggle, saying that the new Boolooroowanted him. Tiggle, hiding in the cellar of a deserted house in a backstreet, at last heard these cries and joyfully came forth to confrontthe messenger.
Having heard of the old Boolooroo's downfall and disgrace, the manconsented to go to the palace again, and as soon as Trot saw him sheasked about the umbrella.
Tiggle thought hard for a minute and then said he remembered sweepingthe King's rooms and finding a queer thing--that might have been anumbrella--lying beneath a cabinet. It had ropes and two wooden seats anda wicker basket all attached to the handle.
"That's it!" cried Button-Bright, excitedly; and "That's it!" "That'sit!" cried both Trot and Cap'n Bill.
"But what did you do with it?" asked Ghip-Ghisizzle.
"I dragged it out and threw it on the rubbish heap, in an alley back ofthe palace," said Tiggle.
At once they all rushed out to the alley and began digging in therubbish heap. By and by Cap'n Bill uncovered the lunch basket, andpulling on this he soon drew up the two seats and, finally, the MagicUmbrella.
"Hurrah!" shouted Button-Bright, grabbing the umbrella and hugging ittight in his arms.
"Hooray!" shrieked the parrot;
"Cap'n Bill's a lucky fellah, 'Cause he found the old umbrella!"
Trot's face was wreathed in smiles.
"This is jus' the best luck that could have happened to us," sheexclaimed, "'cause now we can go home whenever we please."
"Let's go now--this minute--before we lose the umbrella again," saidButton-Bright.
But Trot shook her head.
"Not yet," she replied. "We've got to straighten out things in SkyIsland, first of all. A Queen has some duties, you know, and as long asI'm Queen here I've got to live up to the part."
"What has to be did, mate?" inquired Cap'n Bill.
"Well, we've fixed the Blue Country pretty well, by makin' 'Sizzle theBoolooroo of it; but the Pinkies mus' be looked after, too, 'causethey've stood by us an' helped us to win. We must take 'em home again,safe an' sound, and get a new Queen to rule over 'em. When that's donewe can go home any time we want to."
"Quite right, Trot," said the sailor, approvingly. "When do we march?"
"Right away," she replied. "I've had enough of the Blue Country. Haven'tyou?"
"We have, mate."
"We've had plenty of it," observed Button-Bright.
"And the Pinkies are anxious to get home," added Rosalie, who waspresent.
So Cap'n Bill unhooked the seats from the handle of the umbrella andwound the ropes around the two boards and made a package of them, whichhe carried under his arm. Trot took the empty lunch-basket andButton-Bright held fast to the precious umbrella. Then they returned tothe palace to bid good-bye to Ghip-Ghisizzle and the Blues.
The new Boolooroo seemed rather sorry to lose his friends, but thepeople were secretly glad to get rid of the strangers, especially of thePinkies. They maintained a sullen silence while Coralie and CaptainTintint formed their ranks in marching order, and they did not evencheer when Trot said to them in a final speech:
"I'm the Queen of Sky Island, you know, and the new Boolooroo has got tocarry out my orders and treat you all nicely while I'm away. I don'tknow when I'll come back, but you'd better watch out an' not make anytrouble, or I'll find a way to make you sorry for it. So now, good-bye!"
"And good riddance!" screamed the Six Snubnosed Girls who had once beenPrincesses, and who were now in the crowd that watched the departure.
But Trot paid no attention to them. She made a signal to the PinkieBand, which struck up a fine Pink March, and then the Army stepped outwith the left foot first, and away went the conquerors down the streetsof the Blue City, out of the blue-barred gateway and across the countrytoward the Fog Bank.